With cybercrime increasing at a record pace, ATO has come up jointly with other prestigious organisations to start a Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) program that is formulated to tackle the most serious forms of financial crime.

Established on 1 July 2015, SFCT brings together the knowledge, resources and experience of relevant law enforcement and regulatory agencies. It main goal is to identify, assess and address the most serious and complex forms of financial crime happening in Australia.

Each year, several individuals, businesses, and communities fall victim to serious financial crimes and scams that costs them millions of dollars in revenue. The Australian Taxation Office has partnered with leading agencies to prevent, detect, and deal with all forms of financial crimes with the assistance of the serious financial crime taskforce that will conduct an investigation to find out and bring in account the serious offenders of these crimes.

The current focus of the SFCT is on:

• Cybercrime affecting the tax and superannuation system
• Offshore tax evasion
• Illegal phoenix activity
• Serious financial crime affecting the ATO-administered economic measures

The partner organisations in Serious Financial Crime Taskforce include:

• Australian Tax Office (ATO)
• Australian Federal Police (AFP)
• Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC)
• Attorney-General’s Department (AGD)
• Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC)
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
• Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP)
• Department of Home Affairs (Home Affairs)
• Australian Border Force (ABF)
• Services Australia

The government funding provided to the ATO will continue to leverage the capabilities and powers of Commonwealth law enforcement and regulatory agencies.

Also, it will make it possible for the SFCT to continue combining the collective expertise, knowledge, and resources to focus on the most serious and intricate types of financial crime that pose the greatest threat to Australia’s tax and superannuation systems.

The extension of SFCT helped Australia become a member in the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5). As a member of the SFCT,even the most meticulously planned financial crimes can be discovered by the ATO, all due to its resources, data-matching capability, and relationships with domestic and international intelligence-sharing organisations.